EGU2020 460 Presentation

Near-surface conductivity structures of quaternary volcanic maars
in the Western Bohemian Massif: 3D imaging using the

Radio-Magnetotelluric method
G. Willkommen1,2, R. Klanica3, S. Kováciková3, J. Mrlina3, A. Platz1, U.Weckmann1,2
1Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ, Potsdam, Germany
2 Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
3 Department of Geodynamics, Institute of Geophysics of the Czech Academy of Science, Prague, Czech Republic
© Authors. All rights reserved.

Motivation
• The Cheb Basin is one of the most active areas of the

European Cenozoic Rift System, characterized by
degassing of mantle derived CO2 in mofettes and
mineral springs and by swarm earthquakes events
near Nový Kostel.
Flechsig et. al. 2008

• This geodynamic activity is driven by intra-continental
magmatic processes originated in the lithospheric
mantle.
• As part of the Bohemian Massif, the Cheb Basin is
separated from the ENE-WSW striking Eger Rift to the
west by the morphological prominent Mariánské Lázne
Fault Zone (MLF) and has been formed during the
Variscan orogeny.
Rohrmüller et. al., 2017
Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Introduction Summary
maar maar maar © Authors. All rights reserved.
Motivation
• Although there is no active volcanism at the surface,

several quaternary volcanoes are known in the
southern and in the western part of the Cheb Basin.
• Komorní hůrka near Cheb and Železná hůrka near Bad
Neualbenreuth at the Czech-German Border are two
scoria cones (Middle Pleisoscene, 0.7 – 0.3 Ma)
• In the vicinity of Komorní hůrka two maar structures has
been found in the last 13 years: the Mýtina maar (CZ,
288 ± 17 ka, Mrlina et. al. 2007) and the
Neualbenreuth maar (D, Rohrmüller et. al. 2017).
• These volcanoes are located along the Tachov fault
zone.

Motivation
• Recently, two maar structures in the north-western part

of the Cheb Basin were identified: the Ztracený Rybník
maar and the Bažina maar
(Hošek et. al., 2019; Mrlina et. al. 2019).
• An interdisciplinary Project "Drilling the Eger Rift“ within
the international Continental Scientific Drilling Program
(ICDP) targets the interactions between fluids, deep
biosphere, CO2 degassing and earthquake activity to
shed light on the tectonic structure and related
geodynamic processes.
• As a part of this project, Radio-Magnetotelluric (RMT)
measurements were applied to image the near-surface
electrical conductivity structure of these maar
volcanoes.

Neualbenreuth Maar (NAR)
• In May 2018 we conducted a RMT field experiment across the
Neualbenreuth maar. 5 profiles had a length of 450 – 550 m and a site
spacing of 10 meters.
• To examine the hypothesis of a smaller maar structure next to the north-
eastern rim (Rohrmüller et. al., 2017), 2 short additional profiles were
measured.
• All sites were measured using the EnviroMT system, developed by the
Uppsala University and METRONIX in 2001. This 5-component RMT system
has a frequency range of
10 kHz – 250 kHz.
• An additional RMT system was used.
Due to technical issues,
the data recorded by this
system could not be used.
EnviroMT system

maar maar maar
© Authors. All rights reserved.
NAR – Data Examples (EnviroMT)
Station 230 Station 413
• The EnviroMT system has an internal bivariate

processing, that stores full impedance tensor data.
It is not possible to store time series data.
• The overall data quality of the internal processing
was good. Between 15 and 30 radio transmitters
could be used for data processing. Only few
stations had poor data quality (e.g. station 413).
• Obvious outliers were removed manually prior to
the inversion.

NAR – 3D Inversion (10-250 kHz)
• The inversion and modelling code ModEM (Meqbel, 2009; Egbert and Kelbert, 2012; Kelbert et. al.,
2014) was used for 3D inversion.
• Different grid discretisations, starting models and error settings were tested.
• Impedances and vertical magnetic transfer functions were inverted together.
• Model grid:
• 120 x 240 horizontal cells with a size of 5x5 m; 20 padding cells with an increasing factor of 1.3
in each direction.
• 60 vertical cells with an increasing factor of 1.2. The first layer thickness is 50 cm.
• Starting model: 100 m halfspace
• Error floor: 50% on 𝑍𝑖𝑖 𝑍𝑖𝑗 for 𝑍𝑥𝑥 and 𝑍𝑦𝑦
5% on 𝑍𝑖𝑗 for 𝑍𝑥𝑦 and 𝑍𝑦𝑥
5% on 𝑇𝑧𝑥 and 𝑇𝑧𝑦

NAR – 3D Inversion (10-250 kHz)
Neualbenreuth Maar
[km]
[km]
A A’
[km]
A’ R1 C1
[km]
R2
A
[km]
[m]
• The conductive formation C1 (< 100 m) in the center of the maar diatreme shows the extent
of the sedimentary infill.
• The surrounding host rocks, quartzitic phyllites and mica schists have higher resistivities of
more than 500 m (R1, R2).

RMS
Neualbenreuth Maar
Overall nRMS = 1.68

Z nRMS = 1.78
T nRMS = 1.47
• Overall RMS decreased from 6.47 to 1.79 after 58 iterations

NAR - Conclusion
• Neualbenreuth maar inversion results:
• The conductivity structure in the northern part of the maar structure is well
resolved.
• The lateral extent of the diatreme is 250 – 300 m.
• 3D model corresponds well to the the lithological profile of the drilling site NAR
2015.
• The lack of stations over the southern part does allow conclusions for the area
beyond our profiles.
• Good data fit.
• There is no indication of a small maar-like structure to the north-west of the NAR
maar.

Mýtina Maar (MYT)
• End of November 2018 we conducted a RMT field experiment across the
Mýtina maar. 3 profiles had a length of approximately 700 m and a site
spacing of 15 meters.
• All sites were measured using the MK5-SM25 system, developed by St.
Petersburg University and MICROCOR in 2005 - 2015. This 5-component
RMT system has a frequency range of 1 kHz – 1000 kHz.
• Data is recorded in 3 bands (1 – 10 kHz, 10 – 100 kHz and
100 – 1000 kHz) and stored as time series.
MK5-SM25 system

MYT – Data Examples (SM25)
• The data were processed using the EMERALD
processing suite (Ritter et. al., 1998; Weckmann et.
al., 2005; Krings, 2007)
• The initial data quality was rather poor. A longer fft
window length of 16384 samples and the application
of the Mahalanobis distance as an advanced data
selection criteria (Platz & Weckmann, 2019)
improved the data quality.
• Due to the lack of radio transmitters below 10 kHz,
we had to exclude the frequency range from 1 – 10
kHz at most sites.
• We also had to remove the frequency range 250
kHz – 1 GHz at most sites, as there were too few
radio transmitter for a bivariate processing.
• Obvious outliers were removed manually prior to the
inversion.

MYT – 3D Inversion (1-250 kHz)
• The inversion and modelling code ModEM (Meqbel, 2009; Egbert and Kelbert, 2012; Kelbert et. al., 2014) was
used for 3D inversion.
• Only impedances were inverted so far.
• Model grid:
• 60 x 180 horizontal cells with a size of 5x5 m; 20 padding cells with an increasing factor of 1.3 in each
direction.

MYT – 3D Inversion (10-250 kHz)
Mýtina Maar
[km] [km]
A [km]
[km]
A’
A’
[km]
A
[m]
• It is more difficult to distinguish the conductive

sedimentary infill (C1) from the surrounding
quartzitic phyllites and mica schists (R1/R2).
The transition between the conductive
sediments and the resistive host rocks seems
to be smoother than in NAR.
• A very shallow layer with very high
conductivities can be seen. This layer
corresponds to the a magnetic anomaly within • Overall RMS decreased from
MYT (Mrlina et al., 2009). 15.2 to 4.32 after 77 iterations

MYT - Conclusion
• Mýtina maar inversion results:

• Conductivity structure of the maar could not be resolved well
• Shallow layer with very high conductivities
• Smooth transition between the host rocks and sediments compared to the other
maars.
• Data processing and inversion have to be improved
• Bad data fit

Ztracený Rybník Maar (ZARY)
& Bažina Maar (BAZI)
• In September 2019 we conducted a RMT field experiment across the
Ztracený Rybník Maar (ZARY) and the Bažina Maar (BAZI)
• 5 profiles across ZARY and 2 profiles across BAZI had a length of 400 -
900 m and a site spacing of 15 meters. A 1300 m long profile perpendicular
to the other profiles crossed both maar structures.
• All sites were recorded using a Metronix ADU-08e data logger, a 24/32 bit
EM datalogger with 5 components
and a Metronix SHFT-02e magnetometer,
consisting of three induction coils with
a frequency range of 1 kHz – 250 kHz.
• Data is stored as time series
with a length of 10 seconds.
ADU-08e SHFT-02e

ZARY/BAZI – Data Examples (ADU-08e)
• The data were processed using the EMERALD

processing suite (Ritter et. al., 1998; Weckmann et.
al., 2005; Krings, 2007)
• The processing was similar to the MK5-SM25 data.
We used a fft window length of 4096 samples. The
application of the Mahalanobis distance could not
improve the data quality.
• Frequencies below 7 kHz were excluded.
• Obvious outliers were removed manually prior to the
inversion.

ZARY/BAZI – 3D Inversion (1-250 kHz)
• The inversion and modelling code ModEM (Meqbel, 2009; Egbert and Kelbert, 2012; Kelbert et. al., 2014) was
used for 3D inversion.
• Impedances and vertical magnetic transfer functions were inverted together.
• Model grid:
• 180 x 260 horizontal cells with a size of 5x5 m; 20 padding cells with an increasing factor of 1.3 in each
direction.

ZARY/BAZI – 3D Inversion (1-250 kHz)
Ztracený Rybník Maar
Bažina Maar [km]
A’
[km]
C2
A’
[km] R1 R4
C1
R2 R3
[km]
A
[km]
A
[m]
• The contrast between the host rock (granite, R1-R4) and the sedimentary infill of the maar
diatreme is obvious. The transition is very sharp. While the granite has very high resistivities
of more than 1000 m, the sediments is extremely conductive close to 1 m (C1/C2).

RMS
Ztracený Rybník Maar
Bažina Maar
• Overall RMS Overall nRMS = 2.60

decreased from 9.96 to Z nRMS = 2.87
2.60 after 77 iterations
T nRMS = 1.36

ZARY/BAZI – Conclusion
• ZARY/BAZI maar inversion results:
• The conductivity structure of the maar structure is well resolved.
• Very sharp contrasts between resistive host rock and sedimentary infill of the maar diatreme
• Lateral resolution is very good
• The areal site distribution allow conclusions for large parts of both maar structures.
• The lateral extent of the Ztracený Rybník maar diatreme is approximately 400 m.
• Data quality is lower than in Neualbenreuth
• The depth of investigation below the high conductive layer (< 5 m) is limited. The depth of the
lower boundary of the sedimentary infill is uncertain.

ICDP core drilling project
• An ICDP core drilling is planned to recover the sedimentary infill of the maar diatreme.
• The lithological profile can act as a paleoclimatic calendar of the Quaternary period.
• Several factors are decisive:
• An undisturbed sedimentary layering within the diatreme, that covers a long aggregational
period. Here, the lower boundary of the sedimentary infill is a good indicator.
• The lowest possible age of the top sediments.
• A good access to the drilling site and low administrative barriers.
• The clear conductivity structures suggests a drilling in BAZI or ZARY or a deeper drilling next to the
existing drilling in the Neualbenreuth maar.
• The lower boundary of the diatreme infills is not well resolved by RMT.

Summary
Conclusion
• ICDP drilling project:
• Neualbenreuth maar inversion results:
• A deep drilling within NAR, BAZI or ZARY
• The conductivity structure is well resolved.
maar is preferred by the well known
• Lateral extent of the diatreme is 250 – 300 m
conductivity structure.
• Good data fit
• The lower boundary of the diatreme infills
• Mýtina maar inversion results:
is not well resolved by RMT.
• Conductivity structure of the maar is not well
resolved
Outlook
• Bad data fit
• Improving data processing and inversion of
• ZARY/BAZI maar inversion results:
Mýtina data
• Data quality is lower than in Neualbenreuth
• Joint inversion of Z and VTF for Mýtina data
• Very sharp contrasts between resistive host rock
• Improve RMT filtering and processing of SM25-
and sedimentary infill of the maar diatreme
timeseries data (Mýtina Maar)
• Lateral resolution is very good, the extent of the
• Combine RMT data with short period MT data
ZARY diatreme is approx. 400 m

References
Egbert, G.D. & Kelbert, A.: Computational recipes for electromagnetic inverse problems, Geophysical
Journal International, 189(1), 251-267, 2012
Hošek, J. et al.: Nově identifikované pleistocenní maary v západních Čechách - Newly identified Pleistocene
maars in Western Bohemia (Czech Republic), Geoscience Research Reports, Czech Geological Survey,
Prague, Vol. 52, 2/2019, 2019
Hrubcová, P. et al.: The Moho and active magmatic underplating in the western Eger Rift, Central Europe,
Tectonics, 36, 2846–2862, 2017
Kelbert, A. et. al.: ModEM: A modular system for inversion of electromagnetic geophysical data, Computers
& Geosciences, 66, 40-53, 2014
Krings, T.: The influence of robust statistics, remote reference, and horizontal magnetic transfer functions
on data processing in magnetotellurics, Diploma thesis, University Muenster, 2007
Meqbel, N.: The electrical conductivity structure of the Dead Sea Basin derived from 2D and 3D inversion on
magnetotelluric data, PhD thesis, FU Berlin, Berlin, 2009
Mrlina, J. et. al.: Discovery of the first Quaternary maar in the Bohemian Massif, Central Europe, based on
combined geophysical and geological surveys, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 182 (2009)
97–112
References
Mrlina, J. et. Al.: Indikace dvou neznámých kvartérních maarových vulkánů u Libé v západních Čechách na
základě gravimetrického průzkumu, Zpravodaj HNĚDÉ UHLÍ 2/2019
Muñoz, G. et. al.: Regional twodimensional magnetotelluric profile in West Bohemia/Vogtland reveals deep
conductive channel into the earthquake swarm region, Tectonophysics, Vol. 727, pp. 1-11, 2018
Platz, A. & Weckmann, U.: An automated new pre-selection tool for noisy Magnetotelluric data using the
Mahalanobis distance and magnetic field contrains, Geophysical Journal International, 218, 1853-1872, 2019
Ritter, O. et. al.: New equipment and processing for magnetotelluric remote reference observations,
Geophys. J. Int., 132(3), 1998
Rulff, P.: Radiomagnetotellurics for imaging mofette structures in the Eger Rift System, Czech Republic - a
comparative study, MSc. Thesis, 2018
Rohrmüller, J. et al.: Reconnaissance study of an inferred Quaternary maar sctructure in the western part
of the Bohemian Massif near Neualbenreuth, International Journal of Earth Sciences (Geologische
Rundschau), 2017
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frequency domain selection scheme, Geophys. J. Int., 161(3), 635–652., 2005
Thank You!
Many thanks to the Uppsala University and the University of Cologne

for providing the RMT devices and to all participants of the field work! © Authors. All rights reserved.

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Near-surface conductivity structures of quaternary volcanic maars

in the Western Bohemian Massif: 3D imaging using the

G. Willkommen1,2, R. Klanica3, S. Kováciková3, J. Mrlina3, A. Platz1, U.Weckmann1,2

© Authors. All rights reserved.

• The Cheb Basin is one of the most active areas of the

Flechsig et. al. 2008

Rohrmüller et. al., 2017

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

• Although there is no active volcanism at the surface,

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

• Recently, two maar structures in the north-western part

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

• The EnviroMT system has an internal bivariate

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Overall nRMS = 1.68

• Overall RMS decreased from 6.47 to 1.79 after 58 iterations

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

• It is more difficult to distinguish the conductive

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

• Mýtina maar inversion results:

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

• The data were processed using the EMERALD

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

• Overall RMS Overall nRMS = 2.60

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Neualbenreuth Mýtina ZARY / BAZI

Many thanks to the Uppsala University and the University of Cologne

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